Youzu founder Lynch is suspected of being poisoned by poisoning the pufferfish toxin This is one of the most toxic neurotoxins in nature! In addition to pufferfish, these kinds of seafood should also be careful...

City Express News A few days ago, the chairman and actual controller of Youzu Network Company, a company listed on the main board of A shares, 39-year-old Lynch, died unexpectedly. According to the Shanghai public security report, Lynch was suspected of being poisoned. According to Caixin, Lynch was diagnosed with acute pufferfish toxin poisoning at Huashan Hospital, and was treated with an excessive amount of blood exchange (40,000cc) and surgery, and his condition was stable for a while, but due to his chronic mercury poisoning at the same time, he eventually caused visceral bleeding and heart-lung failure and died soon after.

This vicious poisoning incident has once again aroused everyone's concern for pufferfish and toxins for pufferfish.

As one of the most toxic neurotoxins in nature, Chen Jian, head of the Museum of Marine Biology at Zhejiang Ocean University, said that the pufferfish toxin is not only unique to pufferfish, it is also found in other seafood.

In 2019, someone in Jiangsu was poisoned and died after eating river pufferfish

The reporter asked the major hospitals in Hangzhou and the provincial and municipal centers for disease control and prevention whether there were cases of poisoning caused by eating pufferfish, and the other party said that Hangzhou has not received relevant cases in recent years.

However, in China, incidents of pufferfish poisoning still exist in recent years.

According to Chuanguan News, on June 9, 2020, the Chongming District People's Court of Shanghai Municipality publicly tried a case of serious injury caused by the negligence of cooking river pufferfish without permission. On December 23, 2019, defendant Ji xxx, knowing that the river pufferfish was poisonous and that it might lead to food poisoning after eating, credulously believed that it could be avoided, and processed and cooked the river pufferfish for the victim Gao xxx and others to eat, causing Gao xxx to have poisoning shock. The collegial panel made a first-instance judgment at the court and sentenced defendant Ji X to 1 year's imprisonment for the crime of causing serious injury through negligence.

According to Modern Express, on December 16, 2019, in Qidong, Jiangsu Province, Shen Moumou, the owner of a seafood wholesale store, sold wild river pufferfish to Zhang Moumou. At about 6 o'clock that night, Zhang X and his son, daughter-in-law, and brother-in-law all showed signs of poisoning after eating river pufferfish, and Zhang X was sent to the hospital for rescue at 20 o'clock on the same day. After identification, Zhang Moumou died of poisoning with river puffer toxin.

Pufferfish toxins are mainly present

In the gonads, viscera, and blood of pufferfish

Chen Jian, head of the Museum of Marine Biology at Zhejiang Ocean University, said that the pufferfish is not a fish, but a general term for many species of fish. We often say that there are two main types of pufferfish - oriental pufferfish and rabbit-headed pufferfish, which are different genera. "Worldwide, there are nearly 100 species of pufferfish, and about 21 species are distributed in Zhejiang, mainly due to subtle differences in skin spines, color and texture."

Chen Jian said that the toxin is mainly found in the gonads (ovaries, sperm nests), internal organs (spleen, liver, kidneys, etc.), blood and eyeballs of pufferfish, while the muscle part does not contain toxins. The chemical and thermal properties of pufferfish toxins are very stable, and general cooking methods such as salting or sun exposure cannot destroy them, and can only be decomposed when heated at high temperatures for more than 30 minutes or under alkaline conditions. "If the blood is dried and the toxic parts are removed after being handled and cooked by a professional chef, the pufferfish can still be eaten."

Chen Jian said that because he is in Zhoushan and eats the sea by the sea, there are still a considerable number of people around him who have eaten pufferfish before, and he himself has eaten wild pufferfish once many years ago.

"It was at a friend's house, who was in the seafood business, and invited us to his house, and there was a pufferfish soup on the table, of course, it was handled by a master with many years of experience." Jian Chen said that even after professional chefs, eating wild pufferfish is still dangerous, so after that time many years ago, he has not eaten pufferfish again, and also reminded friends around him not to eat wild pufferfish again.

On November 11, 2019, the Express reported that the Zhoushan International Aquatic City Market Supervision and Management Office received feedback from the masses that there were fishmongers on the docks mixed with the trading crowd and secretly selling pufferfish. After secret investigation, law enforcement officers seized a large number of pufferfish under the viaduct of the wharf, and after counting, the number was as high as 274 boxes, a total of 4110 kilograms! The seized pufferfish are all packed in boxes, a box of about 30 pounds, the purchase price is about 80 yuan, and the price is about 100 yuan. This is the largest case of pufferfish sales in Zhoushan city in recent years.

Since 2016, the domestic market has allowed the cultivation of river pufferfish to enter the market

At present, wild pufferfish are still prohibited from processing and trading

The reporter opened a shopping website, entered the "pufferfish", the results shown, there are not many merchants selling edible pufferfish, there are freshly processed raw pufferfish, as well as dried pufferfish, heated and ready-to-eat vacuum puffer packs, etc., most of the shipping places are Jiangsu and Fujian.

Randomly clicking on one of them shows that 57 transactions have been successful, specializing in the sale of freshly farmed pufferfish after processing, with a net content of 0.3kg and a price of 79.99 yuan. In the product details, the merchant marked the two words "non-toxic" in red font, and attached a test certificate marked "The sample is actually non-toxic". In addition, two points of "ecological breeding" and "licensed slaughter" were also specifically mentioned, indicating that the slaughtering and processing of pufferfish sold in the store are operated by licensed chefs, and there is a set of strict regulations for internal organs cleaning, spine bloodletting, separation of skin and meat, and fish skin handling. The latest review for the product was shown as October 25, 2020: "Pufferfish is very delicious, the flesh is firm, the liver is particularly fat, similar to the taste of fatty foie gras plus fried silkworm pupae!" Braised this time, stewed next time. ”

Jian Chen mentioned that because it was highly toxic, in the past, China did not allow any river pufferfish trade. Since 2016, only legal and tested safe farmed pufferfish have been allowed to enter the market, and at present, only two kinds of redfin oriental pufferfish and dark-striped oriental pufferfish are involved, but all wild pufferfish are still prohibited from processing and operation.

So is the farmed pufferfish really non-toxic?

"It can only be said that the farmed pufferfish are safer, and the toxicity is controlled as much as possible within the safe range through the breeding environment and breeding technology." Although some places claim that their own breeding pufferfish is 100% non-toxic, this has yet to be confirmed. Therefore, it is recommended that consumers carefully choose to buy pufferfish sold by regular business enterprises and processed and produced, or eat them in moderation in restaurants with standardized operations, and do not make and eat pufferfish by themselves. ”

Pufferfish toxin is one of the most toxic neurotoxins in nature

The source is inconclusive

Puffer toxin (TTX) is an amino perhydroquinazoline-type compound, one of the most toxic neurotoxins found in nature, and was once considered the most toxic non-proteotoxin in nature, and was first found in the body of pufferfish. After ingestion of pufferfish toxin, it can produce symptoms of dizziness, vomiting, numbness in the lips and fingers, etc., the incubation period ranges from 5 minutes to 6 hours, and its toxicity is more than 1250 times higher than that of sodium cyanide.

According to the degree of poisoning, there are four main clinical manifestations:

1. There is a very slight numbness in the lips and the tip of the tongue. This symptom is a mild symptom of poisoning, and it is also the earliest symptom of poisoning;

2. Sluggishness. Numbness appears in the wrists and limbs, and the movement is very inflexible, much like a drunk person. This is also the most obvious manifestation of pufferfish toxin poisoning.

3. Complete motor paralysis. This is the third phase and is already life-threatening. Patients generally feel that the tongue is paralyzed, unable to speak completely and clearly, and because of difficulty breathing, the nails and lips will be bruised, and then they will be confused;

4. Unconsciousness. The patient's blood pressure dropped significantly, and he died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

At present, there are two main views on the source of pufferfish toxins, the internal cause theory (derived from the pufferfish itself) and the external cause theory (from the outside world), and the two theories have not yet been conclusive.

River puffer toxin is not only present in the body of river pufferfish Zhejiang people should also pay attention to these kinds of seafood

In fact, pufferfish toxins are not only present in pufferfish, but also some organisms may contain pufferfish toxins, such as weave snails, round-tailed horseshoe crabs (hòu), cloud-spotted bare-cheeked gobies and so on.

If you love seafood, be especially careful of a seafood called a sea crab.

According to Guangxi Television, in July 2018 alone, there were two poisoning deaths in Guangxi. On July 1, Huang Mou of Fangchenggang City was poisoned after eating horseshoe crab, and died after four days of ineffective rescue. On July 20, after Mr. Ning's family drank seafood soup made of horseshoe crab, all four members of the family were poisoned, and their young son, who was still in kindergarten, unfortunately died.

There was also a couple in Ningbo who almost lost their lives due to poisoning of round-tailed horseshoe crab.

Mr. Hu, a 36-year-old party who used to be a chef, saw a stall selling horseshoe crabs one day when he was visiting the wet market, so he bought two steamed buns. On the day of the purchase, one at noon and one in the evening, Mr. Hu and his wife ate the horseshoe crab.

Two hours later, Mr. Hu and his wife felt numbness in their tongues, fingertips, and toes, and they were tired, and after staying up for 1 hour without getting better, he drove and his wife to Ninghai County People's Hospital for treatment.

When she arrived at the hospital, Mr. Hu's wife could not even walk, and the doctor washed her stomach and infused her, but the situation was still deteriorating. At 11 p.m. that night, they were transferred by ambulance to Ningbo Li Huili Hospital.

According to the symptoms of poisoning by Mr. and Mrs. Hu, at that time, Jin Yuhong, director of the ICU of Li Huili Hospital, said: "The patient's mouth, hands are numb, and the body is weak, which is a symptom of poisoning that causes nerve paralysis, similar to the symptoms of poisoning from eating pufferfish." At present, for this toxin, there is no specific drug to treat, in addition to the first time to induce vomiting, gastric lavage, is blood perfusion, that is, the patient's blood is withdrawn, through the machine to adsorb the toxin in the blood, and then back to the patient's body, the process is somewhat similar to hemodialysis. ”

After Mr. Hu was poisoned, a doctor issued a reminder in the circle of friends: "We eat mostly Chinese horseshoe crab (Chinese horseshoe crab), generally not poisoned, but another kind of round-tailed horseshoe crab contains high poison, the toxin and pufferfish are the same, can be fatal, very dangerous, ordinary people are not easy to distinguish between these two kinds of horseshoe, so it is still prudent to eat!" ”

Chen Jian, head of the Museum of Marine Biology of Zhejiang Ocean University, said that the Chinese horseshoe crab is a little larger and more widely distributed, and it is distributed in Shandong and the southern coast of China; the round-tailed horseshoe crab is slightly smaller, distributed in the southern coast of Guangxi and other southern coasts in Guangdong, China, but now the Zhejiang market also often appears round-tailed horseshoe crabs.

"The biggest and most intuitive difference between the Chinese horseshoe crab and the round-tailed horseshoe crab is the nature of the sword tail, the tail cross-section of the Chinese horseshoe crab is triangular and conical, while the tail cross-section of the round-tailed horseshoe crab is round and smooth. Since the two species of horseshoe crabs are still relatively similar in appearance and difficult to identify, it is still recommended that you eat them with caution. ”